page_title: Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp
section_title: Queen dowager
hierarchical_section_title: Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp / Queen dowager
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Portrait der Hedvig Eleonora, Königin von Schweden in ihrem 70. Lebensjahr.
context_page_description: Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp was Queen of Sweden from 1654 until 1660 as the wife of King Charles X Gustav. She served as regent during the minority of her son, King Charles XI, from 1660 until 1672, and during the minority of her grandson, King Charles XII, in 1697. She also represented Charles XII during his absence in the Great Northern War from 1700 until the regency of her granddaughter Ulrika Eleonora in 1713. Hedwig Eleonora was described as a dominant personality, and was regarded as the de facto first lady of the royal court for 61 years, from 1654 until her death.
context_section_description: Hedwig Eleonora enjoyed great respect as queen dowager. She focused more on the administration of her dower lands and the upbringing of her son rather than to politics. In her upbringing of her son Charles XI, she focused on religion and moral and physical training and athletics rather than on academic studies, and she has been criticized for having spoiled him by not having forced him to attend to his studies. Although she herself was interested in culture and the sciences, she put no demands on him and allowed him to skip his studies: as he had a frail health during childhood, she found it more important for him to strengthen his body, and to discipline his moral by studies of religion.
  In 1661, Hedwig Eleonora was considered a possible wife for King Charles II of England. Nothing came of it, however, as she refused the proposal: the official ground for her refusal was that she claimed that she wished to remain faithful to her dead husband. 
  In 1667, the young nobleman Count Carl Gyllenstierna (1649–1723), was made chamberlain to Hedwig Eleonora. He became her favourite, served as her courier during the Scanian War, was promoted General-Governor of her dower lands in 1679 and was given the title of count in 1687. Carl Gyllenstierna was the favourite of Hedwig Eleonora and has been pointed out as her lover, and although this is not confirmed, he his swift career at court was attributed to his good looks. There is a legend that the residence of Gyllenstierna, Steninge Palace, was built with a secret passage from his bedroom to the bedroom in the so-called Queen's Wing, which was used by Hedwig Eleonora during her frequents visits. During her later years, Hedwig Eleonora was criticized for her favourite, Anna Catharina von Bärfelt, whose influence led to an open conflict with Gyllenstierna. Bärfelt was known for taking bribes from supplicants to the queen dowager and rumoured to steal from her. Gyllenstierna made an ultimatum and asked Hedwig Eleonora to choose between him and Bärfelt, which eventually led to Bärfelt being banished from court after Gyllenstierna had formed an alliance with Christina Piper, Beata Sparre, the mistress of the robes Märta Berendes, Arvid Horn and the court chaplain Molin. The night before her departure, Gyllenstierna had to door to Hedwig Eleonora's bedroom locked to prevent Bärfelt from contacting the queen dowager.
  Hedwig Eleonora corresponded with her German relatives and often entertained them as guests: she raised her niece Magdalena Sibylla of Hesse-Darmstadt as her foster child, as well as her late husband's niece, Juliana of Hesse-Eschwege. The latter was long unofficially understood to be the future queen by marriage to Charles XI when he became an adult, but the plan was abandoned when Juliana gave birth to a child outside of marriage (1672). Hedwig Eleonora had Juliana sent to the country side, but when she had a second child, she was forcibly married to the father and expelled.
  Hedwig Eleonora had a very close relationship with her son, Charles XI, who “kept himself to her completely and unreservedly”.
  She accompanied him during his trips around the country, and during the Scanian war, she often stayed in Vadstena, where he visited her from the war front, to be closer to him.
  Even after her son's marriage to Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark, she essentially kept her position as the first lady of the court. 
  Charles XI referred to his mother as “The Queen” or “Her Majesty the Queen My Dear Lady Mother” and to Ulrike Eleonora simply as "My Wife". Foreign ambassadors, mindful of this, always paid their respects to Hedwig Eleonora first, and then to Ulrike Eleonora. The hostility between and Holstein-Gottorp and Denmark also made the relationship between Hedwig Eleonora and her Danish daughter-in-law tense. Charles XI regularly discussed the affairs of state with his mother, and while it does not appear that she purposely influenced him, he respected her opinions and usually followed them.
  Charles XI is believed to have been affected by his mother when he judged the Catechism of the Bishops
caption: Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp by David von Krafft
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